History of ideas and culture

1.
Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies
Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies 4.04 avg rating — 445,037 ratings
1.
Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind
Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind 4.34 avg rating — 1,201,730 ratings
3.
The Modern Mind: An Intellectual History of the 20th Century
The Modern Mind: An Intellectual History of the 20th Century 4.30 avg rating — 1,135 ratings
4.
The Passion of the Western Mind: Understanding the Ideas that Have Shaped Our World View
The Passion of the Western Mind: Understanding the Ideas that Have Shaped Our World View 4.24 avg rating — 2,039 ratings
5.
Ideas: A History of Thought and Invention, from Fire to Freud
Ideas: A History of Thought and Invention, from Fire to Freud 4.36 avg rating — 1,414 ratings
6.
On Tyranny: The Book to Help You Understand Why Democracy Is Failing In 2025
On Tyranny: The Book to Help You Understand Why Democracy Is Failing In 2025 4.27 avg rating — 89,906 ratings
7.
From Dawn to Decadence: 500 Years of Western Cultural Life, 1500 to the Present
From Dawn to Decadence: 500 Years of Western Cultural Life, 1500 to the Present 4.13 avg rating — 4,605 ratings
8.
The Roots of Romanticism
The Roots of Romanticism 4.32 avg rating — 1,460 ratings
9.
Against the Current: Essays in the History of Ideas
Against the Current: Essays in the History of Ideas 4.28 avg rating — 308 ratings
10.
The Great Chain of Being: A Study of the History of an Idea
The Great Chain of Being: A Study of the History of an Idea 4.04 avg rating — 496 ratings
11.
The WEIRDest People in the World: How the West Became Psychologically Peculiar and Particularly Prosperous
The WEIRDest People in the World: How the West Became Psychologically Peculiar and Particularly Prosperous 4.12 avg rating — 3,969 ratings
12.
Utopia For Realists
Utopia For Realists 4.21 avg rating — 41,574 ratings
13.
The Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity
The Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity 4.19 avg rating — 24,322 ratings
14.
The Reopening of the Western Mind: The Resurgence of Intellectual Life from the End of Antiquity to the Dawn of theEnlightenment
The Reopening of the Western Mind: The Resurgence of Intellectual Life from the End of Antiquity to the Dawn of theEnlightenment 4.21 avg rating — 126 ratings
15.
The Ghost Map: The Story of London's Most Terrifying Epidemic—and How It Changed Science, Cities, and the Modern World
The Ghost Map: The Story of London's Most Terrifying Epidemic—and How It Changed Science, Cities, and the Modern World 3.89 avg rating — 55,255 ratings
16.
London Under London: A Subterranean Guide
London Under London: A Subterranean Guide 4.15 avg rating — 117 ratings
17.
Ideas of Human Nature: An Historical Introduction
Ideas of Human Nature: An Historical Introduction 3.75 avg rating — 57 ratings
18.
Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America
Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America 4.53 avg rating — 37,882 ratings
19.
The Kingdom and the Glory: For a Theological Genealogy of Economy and Government
The Kingdom and the Glory: For a Theological Genealogy of Economy and Government 3.99 avg rating — 207 ratings
19.
Orientalism
Orientalism 4.13 avg rating — 28,509 ratings
19.
Connections
Connections 4.25 avg rating — 2,480 ratings
19.
The Quest for a Moral Compass: A Global History of Ethics
The Quest for a Moral Compass: A Global History of Ethics 4.15 avg rating — 526 ratings
19.
Culture: The Story of Us, From Cave Art to K-Pop
Culture: The Story of Us, From Cave Art to K-Pop 3.82 avg rating — 563 ratings
19.
Progress: How One Idea Built Civilization and Now Threatens to Destroy It
Progress: How One Idea Built Civilization and Now Threatens to Destroy It 4.75 avg rating — 4 ratings
25.
A Comparative History of Ideas
A Comparative History of Ideas 4.63 avg rating — 19 ratings
25.
The Seashell on the Mountaintop: A Story of Science, Sainthood, and the Humble Genius who Discovered a New History of the Earth
The Seashell on the Mountaintop: A Story of Science, Sainthood, and the Humble Genius who Discovered a New History of the Earth 3.86 avg rating — 974 ratings
25.
Progress: How One Idea Built Civilization and Now Threatens to Destroy It
Progress: How One Idea Built Civilization and Now Threatens to Destroy It 4.75 avg rating — 4 ratings
28.
Tweeting Da Vinci
Tweeting Da Vinci 4.24 avg rating — 29 ratings
28.
Inventing Ruritania: The Imperialism of the Imagination
Inventing Ruritania: The Imperialism of the Imagination 3.92 avg rating — 60 ratings
28.
21 Lessons for the 21st Century
21 Lessons for the 21st Century 4.16 avg rating — 172,946 ratings
31.
Remarkable Minds: 17 More Pioneering Women in Science and Medicine
Remarkable Minds: 17 More Pioneering Women in Science and Medicine 4.26 avg rating — 19 ratings
31.
Imagining the Balkans
Imagining the Balkans 4.07 avg rating — 561 ratings
31.
Homo Deus: A History of Tomorrow
Homo Deus: A History of Tomorrow 4.19 avg rating — 278,887 ratings
31.
On Freedom
On Freedom 4.32 avg rating — 3,196 ratings
35.
An Intimate History of Humanity
An Intimate History of Humanity 4.11 avg rating — 1,680 ratings
35.
The Mechanical Turk: The True Story of the Chess-playing Machine That Fooled the World
The Mechanical Turk: The True Story of the Chess-playing Machine That Fooled the World 3.93 avg rating — 718 ratings
35.
Considerations on Western Marxism
Considerations on Western Marxism 3.98 avg rating — 577 ratings
35.
The Selfish Gene
The Selfish Gene 4.16 avg rating — 189,059 ratings
35.
Radical Enlightenment: Philosophy and the Making of Modernity 1650-1750
Radical Enlightenment: Philosophy and the Making of Modernity 1650-1750 4.19 avg rating — 392 ratings
35.
The Meaning of Human Existence
The Meaning of Human Existence 3.85 avg rating — 4,907 ratings
41.
Sex, Botany, and Empire: The Story of Carl Linnaeus and Joseph Banks (Revolutions in Science)
Sex, Botany, and Empire: The Story of Carl Linnaeus and Joseph Banks (Revolutions in Science) 3.38 avg rating — 202 ratings
41.
Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste: How Neoliberalism Survived the Financial Meltdown
Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste: How Neoliberalism Survived the Financial Meltdown 4.15 avg rating — 291 ratings
41.
The Invention of Science: A New History of the Scientific Revolution
The Invention of Science: A New History of the Scientific Revolution 3.88 avg rating — 884 ratings
44.
The Iron Bridge: Symbol of the Industrial Revolution
The Iron Bridge: Symbol of the Industrial Revolution 4.17 avg rating — 6 ratings
44.
The Birth of Biopolitics: Lectures at the Collège de France, 1978-1979
The Birth of Biopolitics: Lectures at the Collège de France, 1978-1979 4.28 avg rating — 1,623 ratings
44.
The Emergence of Subjectivity in the Ancient and Medieval World: An Interpretation of Western Civilization
The Emergence of Subjectivity in the Ancient and Medieval World: An Interpretation of Western Civilization 4.33 avg rating — 3 ratings
47.
When London Was Capital of America
When London Was Capital of America 3.62 avg rating — 107 ratings
47.
Revolutionary Ideas: An Intellectual History of the French Revolution from The Rights of Man to Robespierre
Revolutionary Ideas: An Intellectual History of the French Revolution from The Rights of Man to Robespierre 3.94 avg rating — 139 ratings
49.
The Edge of the World: How the North Sea Made Us Who We Are
The Edge of the World: How the North Sea Made Us Who We Are 3.57 avg rating — 2,755 ratings
49.
Natural Supernaturalism: Tradition and Revolution in Romantic Literature
Natural Supernaturalism: Tradition and Revolution in Romantic Literature 4.15 avg rating — 173 ratings
49.
A Culture of Growth: The Origins of the Modern Economy
A Culture of Growth: The Origins of the Modern Economy 3.89 avg rating — 311 ratings
52.
More: Population, Nature, and What Women Want
More: Population, Nature, and What Women Want 3.98 avg rating — 65 ratings
52.
Eranos: An Alternative Intellectual History of the Twentieth Century
Eranos: An Alternative Intellectual History of the Twentieth Century really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 11 ratings
52.
Darwin and the Emergence of Evolutionary Theories of Mind and Behavior (Science and Its Conceptual Foundations series)
Darwin and the Emergence of Evolutionary Theories of Mind and Behavior (Science and Its Conceptual Foundations series) 4.13 avg rating — 23 ratings
55.
What Galileo Saw: Imagining the Scientific Revolution
What Galileo Saw: Imagining the Scientific Revolution 3.20 avg rating — 15 ratings
55.
The Archaeology of Knowledge and The Discourse on Language
The Archaeology of Knowledge and The Discourse on Language 4.11 avg rating — 7,327 ratings
55.
An Intimate History of Evolution: The Story of the Huxley Family
An Intimate History of Evolution: The Story of the Huxley Family 3.84 avg rating — 68 ratings
58.
The Man Who Deciphered Linear B: The Story of Michael Ventris
The Man Who Deciphered Linear B: The Story of Michael Ventris 3.98 avg rating — 228 ratings
58.
Philosophy Between the Lines: The Lost History of Esoteric Writing
Philosophy Between the Lines: The Lost History of Esoteric Writing 4.18 avg rating — 168 ratings
58.
Hegel's Century: Alienation and Recognition in a Time of Revolution
Hegel's Century: Alienation and Recognition in a Time of Revolution 4.36 avg rating — 11 ratings
61.
The Evolution of Useful Things: How Everyday Artifacts-From Forks and Pins to Paper Clips and Zippers-Came to be as They are
The Evolution of Useful Things: How Everyday Artifacts-From Forks and Pins to Paper Clips and Zippers-Came to be as They are 3.53 avg rating — 1,359 ratings
61.
Leviathan and the Air-Pump: Hobbes, Boyle, and the Experimental Life
Leviathan and the Air-Pump: Hobbes, Boyle, and the Experimental Life really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 520 ratings
63.
Virtual Reality: The Revolutionary Technology of Computer-Generated Artificial Worlds - and How It Promises to Transform Society
Virtual Reality: The Revolutionary Technology of Computer-Generated Artificial Worlds - and How It Promises to Transform Society 3.77 avg rating — 137 ratings
63.
From Counterculture to Cyberculture: Stewart Brand, the Whole Earth Network, and the Rise of Digital Utopianism
From Counterculture to Cyberculture: Stewart Brand, the Whole Earth Network, and the Rise of Digital Utopianism 3.98 avg rating — 656 ratings
63.
The Closing of the Western Mind: The Rise of Faith and the Fall of Reason
The Closing of the Western Mind: The Rise of Faith and the Fall of Reason 4.06 avg rating — 2,175 ratings
66.
Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time
Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time 3.99 avg rating — 75,024 ratings
66.
The Enlightenment, Volume 2: The Science of Freedom
The Enlightenment, Volume 2: The Science of Freedom
by: Peter Gay
4.07 avg rating — 182 ratings
68.
The History of Sexuality, Volume 1: An Introduction
The History of Sexuality, Volume 1: An Introduction 4.02 avg rating — 24,961 ratings
68.
Modernism: The Lure of Heresy
Modernism: The Lure of Heresy
by: Peter Gay
3.89 avg rating — 743 ratings
70.
Grenzenloses Vergnügen: Der Aufstieg der Massenkultur 1850-1970
Grenzenloses Vergnügen: Der Aufstieg der Massenkultur 1850-1970 really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 10 ratings
70.
The Enlightenment: The Pursuit of Happiness 1680-1790
The Enlightenment: The Pursuit of Happiness 1680-1790 4.26 avg rating — 716 ratings
72.
Toms River: A Story of Science and Salvation
Toms River: A Story of Science and Salvation
by: Dan Fagin
4.09 avg rating — 4,618 ratings
72.
Love in the Western World
Love in the Western World 4.11 avg rating — 543 ratings
72.
The Shock of the New
The Shock of the New 3.74 avg rating — 35,755 ratings
75.
The Making of a Counter Culture: Reflections on the Technocratic Society and Its Youthful Opposition
The Making of a Counter Culture: Reflections on the Technocratic Society and Its Youthful Opposition 3.85 avg rating — 434 ratings
76.
A Generation of Seekers: The Spiritual Journeys of the Baby Boom Generation
A Generation of Seekers: The Spiritual Journeys of the Baby Boom Generation 3.35 avg rating — 17 ratings
76.
Creatures of Cain: The Hunt for Human Nature in Cold War America
Creatures of Cain: The Hunt for Human Nature in Cold War America 3.83 avg rating — 12 ratings
78.
Revolutionary Jews from Spinoza to Marx: The Fight for a Secular World of Universal and Equal Rights
Revolutionary Jews from Spinoza to Marx: The Fight for a Secular World of Universal and Equal Rights 3.75 avg rating — 12 ratings
79.
Unbelievers: An Emotional History of Doubt
Unbelievers: An Emotional History of Doubt 3.81 avg rating — 250 ratings
80.
Western Esotericism: A Guide for the Perplexed
Western Esotericism: A Guide for the Perplexed 4.12 avg rating — 321 ratings
80.
Freethinkers: A History of American Secularism
Freethinkers: A History of American Secularism 4.06 avg rating — 4,572 ratings
82.
Magnificent Rebels: The First Romantics and the Invention of the Self
Magnificent Rebels: The First Romantics and the Invention of the Self 4.19 avg rating — 2,163 ratings
83.
A History of Western Philosophy
A History of Western Philosophy 4.13 avg rating — 40,911 ratings
83.
Humanly Possible: Seven Hundred Years of Humanist Freethinking, Inquiry, and Hope
Humanly Possible: Seven Hundred Years of Humanist Freethinking, Inquiry, and Hope 4.01 avg rating — 2,040 ratings
85.
On the Genealogy of Morals
On the Genealogy of Morals 4.12 avg rating — 33,987 ratings
85.
The Roots of Radicalism: Tradition, the Public Sphere, and Early Nineteenth-Century Social Movements
The Roots of Radicalism: Tradition, the Public Sphere, and Early Nineteenth-Century Social Movements 4.14 avg rating — 7 ratings
87.
The History of Sexuality, Volume 3: The Care of the Self
The History of Sexuality, Volume 3: The Care of the Self 4.02 avg rating — 2,788 ratings
87.
The Romantic Revolution
The Romantic Revolution 3.78 avg rating — 495 ratings
89.
The New Way of the World: On Neoliberal Society
The New Way of the World: On Neoliberal Society 4.41 avg rating — 222 ratings
89.
The Roads to Modernity: The British, French, and American Enlightenments
The Roads to Modernity: The British, French, and American Enlightenments 3.77 avg rating — 363 ratings
91.
Spectrum: From Right to Left in the World of Ideas
Spectrum: From Right to Left in the World of Ideas really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 99 ratings
91.
European Intellectual History from Rousseau to Nietzsche
European Intellectual History from Rousseau to Nietzsche 4.25 avg rating — 124 ratings
93.
The Waning of the Middle Ages
The Waning of the Middle Ages 4.03 avg rating — 4,252 ratings
94.
The Darkening Age: The Christian Destruction of the Classical World
The Darkening Age: The Christian Destruction of the Classical World 4.07 avg rating — 6,286 ratings
95.
Homo Ludens: A Study of the Play Element in Culture
Homo Ludens: A Study of the Play Element in Culture 3.99 avg rating — 2,856 ratings
96.
The Revolutionary Temper: Paris, 1748-1789
The Revolutionary Temper: Paris, 1748-1789 4.15 avg rating — 248 ratings
97.
The Invention of Prehistory: Empire, Violence, and Our Obsession with Human Origins
The Invention of Prehistory: Empire, Violence, and Our Obsession with Human Origins 3.74 avg rating — 402 ratings
98.
The Golden Road: How Ancient India Transformed the World
The Golden Road: How Ancient India Transformed the World 4.17 avg rating — 1,836 ratings
99.
How the World Made the West: A 4,000 Year History
How the World Made the West: A 4,000 Year History really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 851 ratings
100.
Confronting Leviathan
Confronting Leviathan 4.23 avg rating — 217 ratings
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